


Even Champions Falter

by BlushingDragon



Series: Leaning On Each Other, Krem/Kaylee [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: All This Fade Crap, Cadash Believes in the Stone, Cadash Swears Like A Sailor, Canon Trans Character, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Envy demon, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Post-Champions of the Just, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 18:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14699616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlushingDragon/pseuds/BlushingDragon
Summary: Kaylee's general fear of failure does not mix well with stakes as high as saving the world, and a person can only keep it together for so long before breaking. Krem's sturdy shoulders are there for her.





	Even Champions Falter

_With the torches lit, the light flickering across stone walls, it felt like he faint memories of Orzammar were fighting to resurface. Kaylee’s white-knuckled grip kept her from reaching out for the castle’s walls. She doubted that this Fade shit would feel like Stone-sense anyway, and she didn’t want any more corrupted memories._

_The next set of prison cells almost sent her reeling back. Envy—Envy-as-Kaylee—was backlit by torches, but the face of the prisoner sitting near the bars was illuminated, clear as day. His cheeks were gaunt and his bronzed skin pale, but the hard look in his dark eyes was achingly familiar._

_“This isn’t you, Kaylee,” Krem protested. Steadfastly defiant, like Josie and Cullen had been._

_“Really? I’m better than I’ve ever been,” hissed the demon with hellish glee, and it reached for the facsimile of Kaylee’s maul on it’s back. She felt her stomach drop in her gut, but her limbs felt like they were stuck in hot tar._

_Despite his manacled wrists, Krem tried to shuffle backward on his knees. His voice, usually so sure, shook like a sapling’s branches in a hurricane. “Kaylee, you’re scaring me.”_

_“Good.”_

With a heavy lurch, Kaylee woke with the echo of her own sharp inhale whistling in her ears like the sound of an arrow’s flight. The tent canvas muted the half-light that had arrived during Kaylee’s sparse hours of rest, and the feeling of enclosure felt almost like the Stone. Those memories of life with Mum and Papa, before the surface and before the Carta, brought her night terror back to the forefront of her mind. All at once, the tent was more constricting than comforting, and Kaylee detangled herself from her bedroll and crept out of her tent.

She could see the outlines of the scouts that patrolled the campsite, and the dulled embers of the campfire were light enough to see by. A cold wind rustled the branches of the nearby trees, and their whispers crawled under Kaylee’s skin. Quickly, she stoked the fire and added a log to the embers, the bark quickly catching the flame. Hissing and popping of warped wood filled the air, and she relaxed when the whispers were drowned out. The opening of the tent’s flap was drowned out, but the cautious footsteps that followed were easily distinguished.

“Your Worship?”

Kaylee flinched, but covered it up by faking a cough into her elbow. “Yeah, Krem? Something the matter?”

“You could definitely say that,” he muttered. Krem folded his long human legs and sat down beside her. The firelight bronzed his skin, but his dark eyes never once strayed from her face. Kaylee felt heat creep up her neck from the intense scrutiny, but held his gaze for as long as she could. With a start, Kaylee realized that she’d never noticed the little freckle under the corner of his mouth.

“You’ve been… skittish ever since Therinfall,” Krem said, scowling darkly into the fire. He couldn’t say that his heart had leapt into his throat when she froze at the top of that staircase, or that he’d been keeping her in the corner of his eye since. “If you need to talk about it…”

A bitter laugh escaped her, more like a sharp exhale than anything. “I’m just learning to deal with all this Fade crap,” said Kaylee. Her voice shook, but she stared steadily into the fire. Maybe if she didn’t look directly _at_ him, like with the sun, maybe…

“With all due respect, Kaylee, I don’t think that’s all of it. See, if running with the Iron Bull has taught me anything, it’s how to tell when someone’s full of shit.”

Kaylee clenched her fists, clutching at empty air and the facade of normalcy slipping through her fingers. Frustration made a lump in her throat that caused her voice to quake and quaver, but she pushed the words out with a scowl.

“That's a good way to put it, Krem," she spat. “I’m up to my neck in all this shit. I was never cut out for leading, an’ especially not in the middle of human politics an’ all this Andraste shit. What do the ever-loving Ancestors do I know about the Fade and demons and the divine and mages?  Templars kinda make sense, so _maybe_ I thought that recruiting them wouldn’t all go to shit, but surprise! I almost got fucking possessed or some shit, an’ thinkin’ about that demon still fucks with my head, I c- I can’t—“

Sinking to her knees, Kaylee fought off the choking sobs with a few shaky breaths, but succumbed once she felt two strong arms envelope her and Krem’s head resting beside her own.

Krem didn’t speak, only hummed a little as he smoothed one hand down her back. Guilt palpitated in his chest in time with the sobs that wracked through Kaylee’s body, and so absorbed was he in looking for the right apologetic words that he almost missed the way Kaylee whimpered against the crook of his neck.

“I can’t be what gets you all killed. I _can’t_.”

“You won’t, Kaylee, you won’t, _Maker,_ you’ve gotta believe me,” he starts babbling, almost frantic, but he’s sure to keep one hand on her back, grounding her, feeling her rapid heartbeat through her sleepshirt.

“How do you know that?” hisses Kaylee through clenched teeth. With her eyes screwed shut and her face buried in Krem’s shoulder, she only hears his voice and feels the vibration of it, and she is grounded more effectively by that then the leather grip of her weapon.

“I don’t,” Krem replies, and the words have to come out softly, or else he’s afraid he might shatter Kaylee, whether or not she was the Herald of Andraste & Indestructible Dwarva. “Almost none of us do, but that’s because it’s not about _knowing_ , Kay. I’m— _we’re_ with you all of the way.”

After a few quiet, labored breaths, she whispered, “Do you promise, Krem?”

“Yes.” It fell out easily, but Krem held her tightly as if to show the weight of his promise.

Kaylee’s breathing evened out, and she pat his back to signal the release of their embrace. As they separated, Kaylee frantically wiped the wet tracks of her tears away, and tired for a smile. 

“If you tell anyone about this, I’ll have to dock the Charger’s salary,” she threatened lightly. 

“If anything you ought to pay more,” Krem fired back with a smile. “These shoulders are worth at least a sovereign for crying on.”

“A sovereign? Lieutenant Aclassi, you are underselling yourself and I cannot let that stand,” declared Kaylee. She knocked her shoulder into his, a shaky smile unfurling on her face. “Perhaps I should set up a payment plan? I  _ was _ going to run a criminal empire, you know, I could give you some pointers.”

Krem grinned wide, and nudged his shoulder into Kaylee’s in return.“As you wish, Your Worship.”

**Author's Note:**

> AAAAAAAASSS YOOOOUUUU WIIIIIIISH


End file.
